Traditional media groups break through new media

Newsweek, founded in 1933, has no hope of a paper version of its 80 birthday. The final print edition, which will be sold on December 31 at various kiosks, has been turned into digital publishing.

Newsweek is not the first paper to fall, nor will it be the last. Zhang Lixian, the chief editor of the Chinese network, describes the status of the paper media: Paper media, is becoming an island. Its last generation of readers has entered the old age, the source of advertising has shrunk rapidly, and the cost of distribution has risen. Some Western newspapers have been quietly estimating the timetable for the printing of cardboard. The danger of species or industry is reminiscent of Darwinism. The paper media is faced with how to complete the "migration" of readers and send them to the other side of the digital continent. The premise is that the paper media and the new media must love, build a new ship.

Nowadays, the new media has become a hot new species. The new media is expected to be such a creature: the depth of content as traditional media, the rapid and easy replication of Internet media, the turnaround in the decline of traditional media, and the alternative to the content of cheap and rubbish-strewn web.

A ship vying for new media

"Paper Media has died, the new media," the industry has made such a conclusion. The scramble to layout new media has become the choice of traditional paper media.

In the App store's newspaper and magazine classification, the top of the list are "South du weekly", "Iweekly Weekend Pictorial", "Bloomberg Business Week", "Fashion Bazaar", "Lohas le Live" and so on. Among them, "Bloomberg Business Week", "Fashion bazaar" are just online January, but have rushed to the top of the category of newspaper and magazine.

It is not surprising that the operators of these magazines have accumulated a lot of experience in the new media before. The modern communications group, run by Bloomberg Businessweek, has already launched "Iweekly Weekend Pictorial", "Lohas le Live" and the Imagazine modern log, all in the top position of the App Store. "Fashion Bazaar" in the fashion group in addition to the introduction of a single "Fashion Bazaar", "Mr. Vogue" magazine app version, but also push the "fashion" app, all of its magazine, for users to download.

The new online magazine app is still a shallow one, traced back to the country's earliest new Media magazine, the last sample from Caijing weekly.

"First financial weekly" in November 2010 officially launched the ipad version, and adhere to the strategy of charging. Two years later today, "First Financial weekly," the ipad version of the current annual subscription of users in 25000 people, "the first financial weekly" Electronic edition editor Chun that the result is better than expected.

Not only private magazines, but also some of the media directly under the government feel the crisis, but also try the layout on the new media.

"China Report" magazine by the Foreign Language Bureau Direct Management, responsible for external dissemination. Yinjie, director of new media operations at China News magazine, recalls that previously disseminated publications were shipped, shipped from printed to foreign countries for 15-20 days, and the timeliness of arriving at local news was completely lost. It can now be transferred to the local printing network via the Internet, but because of the high cost of printing abroad, many media still take the printing in China, and then transported by air to foreign countries, it takes at least 2 days.

Last year's China report launched the Chinese Digest, a dual-weekly version of the ipad, to improve the timeliness of the news.

The war of the two mediums

At the time of the launch of the magazine's ipad edition, the managing chief of the first financial week said that the ipad was not a market for paper media but rather a rescue of the traditional media, and he believes the ipad is more like a distribution channel.

From the practice of the electronic magazine, such as "Shellfish Kitchen", the paper-printed "Shellfish Kitchen" is sold only in 34 cities, subject to distribution channels and price constraints, destined to affect the reach of the coverage of the crowd, while the electronic magazine and the network media platform will be the coverage of the crowd greatly extended.

"Business value" mobile reading editor Yang that paper and electronic media is the two media of the war, is a carrier war. But the war has not yet come. Some of the paper content is not due to the impact of the new media, but the quality of their content decline.

In his view, for now, Paper magazine revenue can be maintained, and even incremental, and the new media platform can complement each other. "Now the whenever, the generation is in the paper and electronic media alternately, when the crowd becomes the mainstream of reading, the era of electronic media will come." ”

Chun that, at present from the digital view, there is no significant increase in the number of digital magazines, Paper magazine sales will appear a significant decline in the trend. Now the traditional magazine and new media form the trend of mutual bo.

But he also believes that the absence of such a trend does not mean allowing it to develop. "Media operators have to make choices and trade-offs, not unconsciously, but consciously exert influence, which is an important reason we insist on paying." The charge on the one hand is our value embodiment, on the other hand also is the balance lever. ”

In the process, Chun that the traditional media thinking to change, must be their new media as an Internet start-up company to treat, but not as a new growth of the traditional business unit. The capital structure, the incentive mechanism and so on is more like the Internet company, because must undertake the very big risk, also must be willing to invest.

Content first

When it comes to electronic magazines, you have to mention the daily. The "The Daily" ipad version was closed in December 15.

The daily is not a product of the new media transformation of traditional media, but a brand-new set of men and new media. In order to maintain the electronic newspaper, Murdoch hired a large number of full-time staff, including engineers, journalists, editors, designers, etc., to ensure that the daily content update frequency. By August this year, News Corp had invested nearly 60 million dollars in the ipad newspaper the daily. A large amount of input did not change to a sizeable subscriber, with only 100,000 subscribers in August and a total loss of more than 30 million dollars.

Chun that, compared with the Huffington Post and The New York Times, the daily content was not featured in the short term. Articles, reviews, reports, and topics are not quite in place. "The daily" provides the content, cannot be exclusive and original.

Although the star gathers, but the content does not have the unique feeling, the media superiority resource has not been presented. "Yinjie has a similar feeling.

Frog Cool CEO Yangliang that the user data, Low-cost first-class content production capacity and creativity, the traditional media in the future rely on the "axes".

In content, the New York Times is a useful sample. "The New York Times" was born in 1851, pure paper-borne, content and quality recognized as the most influential U.S. online newspapers.

"Not to say that a good software is a success for your new media, has been completed from the traditional media to the new media across, the software is something secondary, the most important thing or content." This is the first step for any new media person to think clearly. "Chun said.

Content determines whether it is benign or vicious. "The content is not good enough, the number of readers is not coming, download volume and the amount of pay also do not come, electronic magazine ads do not come, advertising does not have the means to subsidize costs, long time investors must have the opinion, to a period of experiment or tens of millions of per year, it is certainly not to continue to do this thing, Or to rethink the business model. "Chun said.

Shao, president of modern communications, who makes a variety of app magazines, also believes that the ultimate reason users are willing to spend their time on new media is quality content.

"The focus of our work has not changed in the magazine or in the new media, which is the provider of quality content." The difference is that we can now tell stories better through new technology, media, and new tools-producing the most original information, the most in-depth reviews, the most global vision of business topics and the most aesthetically pleasing visual design. "Shao said.

What profit?

At present, the traditional magazine's new media are relying on the income of paper-based media to subsidize the party. The new media profit has two kinds of profit model, one is the online subscription, charges to the user. One is the content of free, rely on mobile advertising and other services to add value.

The decline in advertising revenue from traditional media has become a trend. The New York Times, America's most influential newspaper, has fallen for 6 consecutive years. At the end of March 2011, the New York Times began charging readers, who had to pay for reading online articles. This year, the New York Times will exceed advertising revenues for the first time from subscription revenue.

The New York Times ' subscription to the growth of the business has seen the power of "pay barriers." It should be emphasized that the success of the New York Times subscription business is based on the strict legal protection of copyright in the United States, because of the perfect copyright protection system, the United States netizens have formed a good sense of copyright and pay habits. About two-thirds of adult Internet users in the United States pay for online content such as online video, news and software, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

In China is another scene, the major sites at random reprint paper media information, paper media in the network impact on the web through the reprint, micro-blog and other social media to spread.

As a result, E-magazine has two strategies to choose from: Content charges, online subscriptions, content that can include advertising, and content that is completely free and relies on the placement of ads for revenue.

Chun that, from the low cost of electronic magazine operation Law, because the editorial cost of the magazine is almost zero, and the marginal cost is decreasing, in the domestic, can do content to pay, but destined to pay the link to earn not too much money, hope that through downloading income to support the team is not realistic, or rely on advertising. In his view, it does not mean that charging users must be exempt from advertising, advertising can be implanted in the right way, without causing users to resent.

"Advertising was previously an important source of revenue for traditional print media, and it was also one of the most important sources of revenue after the new media." "The media is doing well with its products, positioning itself, locking up the people behind it, and then your electronic magazine will have a location." Advertising programs can be flexible, advertisers can vote at the same time, can also be a separate electronic magazine or Paper magazine. “

Yang that free content magazines can have several revenue paths, one for mobile ads and another for offline activities.

In Yang's view, offline activities have three advantages, the first layer can choose ticket charges, the second tier, offline activities of the participants may be the magazine's potential customers, and the magazine put ads have decision-making power or advice. Third, if only the readers of the magazine, through offline activities can be enhanced to affect the issue of magazines.

Stand at the crossroads of content and technology

"Traditional media to do the new media can not be a complete break with the past, to the existing results or the fruit should not be too much weakened, but also to the maximum to curry favor with the new emerging media to read readers." And how to get the money from the user reasonably. "Chun said.

When people talk about the decline and disintegration of traditional media on various occasions, with all kinds of romantic and idealized words to describe the revolution brought about by the new media, the words will talk about the transformation of new media, in the new media on the way forward on the road is not so graceful and light, they are often excited, often painful, know the target where, But they need to suffer a certain degree of personality division.

"I'm positioning myself as a product manager, and it's easy to be schizophrenic and think about what I'm going to do with the new media right now, like what I want to be, and what the reader wants, what the user wants, all day long," he said. You weigh in between these two angles every day, in the tangle. "Chun said.

"Nan du weekly" to the new media editor's request is, "the ideal, distinguish between right and wrong, make text, diligent mixed net, technical mastery." ”

Chun says the new media needs a person who understands both traditional media and the Internet. "There is a lot of transfer of the nature of things, traditional media to do new media, not to give you a piece of white paper to let you draw, but has drawn a kind of let you change into another look, or to see what good to add a point to the above, what is not good to reduce some." ”

But he also stressed that if you find two kinds of people, a person who understands the internet, a person who understands the traditional media, two people together to discuss, this will certainly not.

"Jobs often say that at the crossroads of humanities and technology, we don't dare to compare that, but we do need traditional media to stand at the crossroads of content and technology." "Chun said.

Most paper-media electronic magazines take the form of technology outsourcing. The first financial weekly is also taking the form of outsourcing, but it has been gradually withdrawn.

Chun that the biggest drawback of technology outsourcing is poor reliability, one is the reliability of time, one is the reliability of quality. The cost of communication is high, and its binding force is comparatively poor.

"If we do it ourselves, I'll set a timetable to make sure it's done on schedule," he said. Outsourcing companies are completely unreliable. The things you do are completely different from what you think, or where there are bugs, and the communication costs are high. ”

In the case of mobile apps, such as game apps, there is a high demand for technology development. But the media app doesn't spell technology, it spreads. But the mobile phone, flat plate This kind of medium decides to be in content present more effort.

For example, "Fashion" magazine to take BMP technology, the picture, text, audio, video and other forms of integration. Can have good audio-visual effect, and have fun interactive experience.

Yangliang attributed these to "expression". In his view, the different content product form, only then matches the suitable "expression" the way, only then conforms to its "the adjustment" and the user needs.

"FT-Chinese app, which is about updating the mechanism, is concise and has a newspaper style;" Bloomberg Businessweek's app, modern Cross-border, tries to juggle experience, design sense and quick release; GQ China APP is full of design fashion, interactive and ingenuity. They have their own, is the current App production of several representative. It has made people see the response to change: "Lineage", and a digital product perspective, repackaging the original content. "Yangliang so appraised.

It's a marathon.

Yang that the new media needs to be developed, it may take another 10 years to grow up.

Chun compared the new media contest to a marathon. "The new media is doing the whole thing, but it's really a matter of finding out or seeing the number, I think it will take years." ”

Yangliang This proposed new media operations: "As soon as possible according to their own resources endowment, reposition product direction, accumulate" valuable "content data and user data. “

Perhaps for great minds alike, Chun is plotting a platform for a digital media database. He thought. With this platform no matter how the digital platform changes, you can transfer data to the new platform. He also planned to establish his own purchase channel, through a data system associated with the user account to do user Service.

"For example, the maze needs to walk 10 kilometers to go out, and then we go out together." Can not say that some people walked a kilometer of the relatively smooth to say that the lead, some people in this 1 km has been in circles, behind certainly no hope, that is not yet at that time. Now according to no stereotypes, the future of the direction and route there are all kinds of possibilities, play, play may have a variety of ideas out. "Chun such a metaphor.